Nagging Question: When Is Most Spam Sent?

Sunday may be a day of rest for legitimate e-mailers, but not for spammers. According to antispam giant Brightmail, e-mail volume builds throughout the workweek, with the greatest number of messages (both real e-mail and junk) sent on Thursday or Friday. Legit e-mail messages plummet on the weekend; sadly, spam doesn't drop as much. So although the largest amount of spam gets sent on Thursday or Friday, spam outnumbers legitimate messages by the greatest margin on Sunday. Now you know why your Monday morning mailbox crawl feels like a trip to Spam Central Station.

Contributing Editor Steve Fox covers buzzworthy products, ideas, and trends. Contact him at steve_fox@pcworld.com. Click here to view past Plugged In columns.